Lawless Arc: Part XXIV)
He stepped through the memory-door—
and everything went white.
Not bright.
Not blinding.
Not holy.
White like erasure.
White like the color of a page before a story is written.
White like the world before a name is spoken.
Kael blinked—
and found himself standing in a place that shouldn't exist anymore.
A place he had personally destroyed.
A place that once begged him to stop.
The Chamber of First Silence.
Where the System was born.
Where Kael ended it.
Where he first tried to erase himself from the multiverse.
The room looked exactly as it did that day:
Floating glyphs.
Frozen starlight.
A cracked obsidian platform.
And right at the center—
the First Mirror.
Where Kael once stood
and whispered the words
that made reality forget him.
Only one problem:
Someone else was standing there now.
Him.
The past Kael.
Still sealed.
Still ignorant.
Still seconds away from carving his own name out of existence.
Kael felt his chest tighten.
"…I'm really here."
The Forgotten Star inside him pulsed.
The Crown dimmed, almost… respectful.
This was the moment even the void feared.
---
The Architect Arrives — Again
A ripple tore through the chamber.
The Architect appeared next to him—
breathing hard, trembling,
as if they had sprinted across creation.
They grabbed Kael's arm.
"Do NOT approach him."
Kael didn't look away from his past self.
"He's me."
"That is EXACTLY why you shouldn't approach him."
The Architect's voice dropped to a desperate whisper:
"If your sealed self sees your unsealed self—
the paradox will not kill you."
"It will remember you."
"And if it remembers you—
the First Silence unravels."
Kael frowned.
"You're saying I can't even talk to him?"
The Architect didn't answer.
They just stared, terrified.
In the distance, Past Kael raised his palms toward the Mirror…
and began speaking the incantation that would erase his identity.
Kael whispered:
"What happens if the First Silence unravels?"
The Architect swallowed.
"Your true name returns instantly."
"Every seal breaks at once."
"You remember what you were before being Kael…"
"…and the multiverse ends before you finish inhaling."
Kael exhaled slowly, jaw tight.
"So I can't speak to him.
Can't stop him.
Can't interfere."
"No."
"Then why bring me here?"
"I didn't!" the Architect hissed.
"You forced open a path reality abandoned!"
"You brought yourself here!"
Kael clenched his fists.
The Echo flickered into existence on Kael's other side—
half-real, half-ghost.
Their voice was barely a whisper:
"You came here for one reason…"
"…to remember what pushed you to erase yourself."
Kael felt his stomach twist.
Past Kael spoke louder.
The first syllable of his old name echoed through the chamber—
and the walls shook.
The Echo's voice trembled:
"You're about to hear the reason.
You're about to see the thing that drove you to annihilate your own identity.
And when you see it…
you must not intervene.
No matter what."
Kael grit his teeth.
"Why?"
The Echo looked at him with eyes full of regret.
"Because if you save him…"
"…you save the version of you that became the Origin's obsession."
Kael flinched.
The Architect whispered:
"Watch.
Learn.
Do NOT act."
---
The Moment It Happened
Past Kael lowered his hands.
The Mirror brightened.
And a sound rippled through the chamber—
one Kael had forgotten long ago,
one he thought was just a nightmare.
A voice.
Young.
Small.
Terrified.
"Brother… don't."
Kael's breath stopped.
The Architect's face went bloodless.
The Echo shut their eyes.
A child stepped into view.
A child made of starlight.
Barefoot.
Smaller than Kael's hand.
Carrying a shard of a broken constellation.
Her eyes were pale galaxies.
Her aura was ancient.
Kael's voice broke.
"No…
No, no, no…
I forgot—
I forgot her—"
The Architect grabbed Kael's hand to stop him from moving.
The Echo trembled beside him.
Past Kael turned toward the child.
His expression—
raw pain.
Raw grief.
Raw terror.
"Sera," he whispered.
"You weren't supposed to follow me."
Kael felt something fracture inside his chest.
Sera.
The one he erased from memory along with himself.
His little sister—
or something even deeper.
Sera shook her head.
"You can't erase your name."
"If you do… I disappear.
I came from your name."
Past Kael staggered.
"I know."
The child smiled sadly.
"It's okay."
"You always protected me."
"But I… I don't want to exist if it hurts you."
Kael fell to his knees.
The Architect and Echo almost lunged to stop him—
but Kael didn't move toward the past versions.
He just broke.
Tears he didn't remember having fell silently.
Past Kael lifted a trembling hand to the Mirror.
Sera hugged his leg.
He whispered the final words—
"Let me be forgotten."
The chamber screamed—
reality shredded—
Sera unraveled into dust made of galaxies—
Past Kael vanished from the Mirror—
and the First Silence fell.
---
Kael stared at the spot where Sera had stood.
He whispered, voice hollow:
"…That's why I chose to stop existing."
The Echo nodded, trembling.
The Architect wiped their face.
"You didn't hide from your power, Kael.
You hid from your loss."
Kael rose slowly.
The Forgotten Star pulsed once—
but this time, the pulse carried pain.
And resolve.
Kael whispered:
"She died because of my name."
"I won't let the world die because of it too."
He turned toward the Mirror.
This time, he didn't raise his hands.
He clenched them.
"Let's finish this."
---